Blazers offer Andre Miller 21 million, Odom's options getting slimmer.

[WayOutWest]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4354227

Updated: July 24, 2009, 3:54 PM ET
Source: Blazers make offer to Miller

The Portland Trail Blazers have offered point guard Andre Miller a three-year contract after failing in their efforts to acquire New York Knicks restricted free agent David Lee, sources close to the process said Friday.

Miller's contract would be worth $21 million, with $14 million guaranteed and $7 million included as a third-year team option, a source said.

Miller's agent, Andy Miller, confirmed his client will be signing a multiyear deal with the Blazers as early as Friday but declined to offer details, ESPN Radio 1080 in Portland has reported.

Miller, an unrestricted free agent, had been balking at signing a one-year offer from the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Blazers were one of only two teams with the money to give him more than the mid-level exception.

The Blazers have been looking for a veteran point guard for the past couple of seasons and have flirted with everyone from Jason Kidd to Kirk Hinrich.

With Miller, the Blazers would get a savvy veteran who excels as a physical, post-up guard.

Before they committed to Miller, the Blazers made a strong push for Lee, a power forward. On Tuesday night, Blazers coach Nate McMillan and front-office executives Kevin Pritchard and Tom Penn had dinner with Lee in Las Vegas to make their recruiting pitch.

One source said the Blazers offered Lee a variety of options, including an opt-out clause that would have made him an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2011.

But the Knicks and Portland could not agree in discussions Thursday on any kind of a sign-and-trade deal, and the Blazers did not want to risk losing Miller over the seven-day waiting period had they chosen to use their cap space to tender an offer sheet to Lee, which New York would have had the right to match.

Lee, attending Team USA's mini-camp in Las Vegas, confirmed the Tuesday night recruiting meeting and said he was intrigued by the possibility of playing for Portland, although he never thought a deal was close.

"At this point it's going to come down to sign-and-trades vs. trying to get something worked out with New York," Lee told ESPN.com. "Sign and trades, with base-year and compensation and all that stuff, can get complicated. But I think there's enough teams out there that we've had contact with that are excited about trying to get something done that it's a possibility we can do it."

Chad Ford and Chris Sheridan are senior NBA writers for ESPN.com.

[westkoast]

I bet Zigs would have preferred Kirk Heinrich over Andre Miller.  A lot of teams go after him and I just don't see why.  That's quite a hefty sum of money for Andre Miller don't ya guys think?

[ziggy]

I bet Zigs would have preferred Kirk Heinrich over Andre Miller.  A lot of teams go after him and I just don't see why.  That's quite a hefty sum of money for Andre Miller don't ya guys think?

I am assuming they couldn't pry Hinrich away, so what are you gonna a do.  It is what it is.

Count me as the underwhelmed.  Don't get me wrong, I have always liked Andre Miller, in fact I have drafted him onto numerous fantasy teams.  He just isn't what I was hoping for, and he certainly is on the downside of his career.  I was really hoping for something more significant.  When was the last time this franchise had cap space beyond the MLE to sign a FA, and who did we sign?

It wasn't Derek Andersen, all we had was a MLE, and we got him through a S&T for Steve Smith.  It wasn't Detlef Schrempf he got the veteran minimum.  The last time was Brian Grant.  In other words it was 13 years ago.  So for a once in 13 year opportunity all we could muster was Andre Miller???

Andre Miller is a good solid above average NBA PG, and he is an upgrade over Blake, and Blake is an upgrade over Sergio so we are better. 

There are 5 areas where we really need to improve in as a team

#1 -  Defense, we were the worst defensive team in the playoffs
#2 -  We have to be able to initiate offense from players other than Brandon
#3 -  We have to score more points in transition
#4 -  We have to score more points in the paint
#5 -  We need to rebound better (based upon the Houston series only)


Last year Miller had a defensive rating of 110, and so did Blake, and Sergio was 109.  Overall I think we took a step backwards, as Miller will be a year older.

Miller assisted 35.4% of his teammates shots while he was on the floor, and Blake 26.0%, Sergio was 36.7%.  Major improvement.  This is the major advantage to Miller.  This will help a great deal on the offensive end, and it will take heat of Brandon, make him a better player, and improve us offensively.  Of course we were already the second best offensive team in the league.

Last year 30% of Portland shots came within the first 10 second of the shot clock, Philly was at 39%.  This is an improvement.  This should indicate that we can run with Miller, now it just comes down to Nate's willingness to push that.  Nate's mantra is go early in the clock, unless you have nothing then have patience and go late.  Well with Blake he seldom pushed to go early.  If Miller is willing to push and go early, then that will be a good thing, but he has to do it.

Miller got to the FT line 4.7 times per game, to Blake at 1.4, Sergio was at 1.9.  No doubt our points in the paint will increase.

Miller rebounded at a rate of 7.3, Sergio 6.8, and Blake 4.3.  Slight improvement.

So we will be better.  Miller is better than Blake, and at 7 million a year to Blake at $4 million a year, we didn't over pay for Miller.  That is good.  At the same time the improvement is only outstanding in one area, solid in the others.  We will be a better team, but I am far from convinced that this will be a difference maker signing.  He helps us at the margins, and who knows maybe that will be enough.  I hope so.

[rickortreat]

Miller is a significant upgrade over what the Blazers had and they did need a man who could distribute the ball.  Miller is a bad defender, but he is a better offensive point than most in the game.  He posts players up using his body, a rare thing for a point and very disruptive to the other team.  The Sixers dropped Andre because they weren't going to sign him for three years. It will take the Blazers that long to find and groom a replacement. This may hurt the Sixers since they need to replace what Andre did for them, but since the Sixers have excellent passing forwards and want to run the Princeton Offense, and they needed to clear some space off their cap, they had to let Andre go.

[Ted]

Word around our local Jazz-owned sports radio station is that the Jazz brass were basically ready to pull the trigger on the three-way Hinrich deal when Pritchard tried to bully the Jazz into the deal by front-loading an offer to Millsap.

When asked on TV whether he thought the Blazers were trying to bully the Jazz into making the deal, Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor said, "What do you think?" The reporter said, "Well, yes." O'Connor nods and says, "The Miller family doesn't like being bullied."

So, now according to some "leaks" the Jazz have joined the growing cadre of NBA teams who have flipped Kevin Pritchard the finger. They'll go into the season with Millsap locked up, and will trade Boozer's expiring contract (which gets more valuable every day) before the trade deadline.

And with more money and more young stars than anyone, Kevin Pritchard gets Andre Miller . . . and even more friends in the business. And why won't his coach sign an extension?